Published by: Anurag Kashyap
Published on: Jan 02 2009 @ 8:43 pm
A lot of questions came forth about how we shot Dev.d. Well, I didn’t know how to go about it either, like i always do, with every film. It’s the film that always decides the shooting style. Style is always a happenstance. It’s never predecided. Locations, where i am shooting always plays a major role, what i am shooting, the subject, it’s soul decides how i have to go about it. The film was set in various places, various moods, cities and areas. The film begins in Punjab, and i wanted to capture punjab. The question i asked myself is what punjab is all about. It is the richest state in India, reason- farming, and land which is so rich. Most of the people in punjab are farmers and family memebers who are in either UK or other parts of the world. I wanted to capture punjab like it is, still, the farming season, the harvest season, the farms, the jaggery units, the sugar mills, and lots of liquid cash. Big cars, hot wheels and people in punjab talking punjabi, music very rooted , punjabi. Paro is parminder, a rustic punjabi girl, who handles family and farms, household and it’s men with the same elan. She can be like a man when it needs to be and delicate like a woman when it needs to be. That is the reason I cast Mahie Gill. Mahie has been an actress in punjabi films for sometime now. I saw her at a party. I was with Imtiaz ali and we saw a girl dancing like there’s no tomorrow and then we spoke to her she was rustic, you knew from the way she talked that she was earthy. I immediately told her i wanted to meet her and told her she is my Paro whenever and if I get to do this film. That was a year before we actually started. There was a lot of resistance initially against her , but today UTV loves her so much that she is doing, Aagey se Right with shreyas and Kaykay and Paan Singh Tomar opposite Irrfan for UTV and my Gulaal.
The entire Punjab chunk in the movie is the way the place is. Still and picturesque. A lot of people who saw the film, their first reaction when the movie begins is, “this can’t be you,this is so yashraj, mustard fields and all, punjabi songs and wedding and all” etc. Then the zone changes. Story moves from Paro a.k.a parminder to chanda. It moves to delhi, south delhi, CP, shanti path Delhi, the public schools, then to canada and punjab during the harvest season and further to Delhi we know little about. The delhi of the nights, of dariyaganj etc. The style , we decided with which we will shoot her story has to be intimate, close and hand held, just follow her around. See her journey, what makes her what she becomes, and why?
Finally we move to Dev’s story. Dev.D a.k.a devender singh dhillon. Son of a rich industrialist from Punjab, the sugar baron and his wandering, his self destruction. This part of the story i wanted to shoot in various places. My choices were the places where people come from all over the world to find themselves. In india they are Goa, Dharamshala, Malana, Auroville in pondicherry , Leh and Pahadganj in Delhi.
Pahadganj normally being the first stop, on a street popularly known as the Israeli street. It looks like either Mongkok or some back street of Hongkong. A neonlit street infested with foreigners mostly israeli’s. You have the street food from all over the world, from shawarmas to momos to tempuras to shushis to whatchmacallit. That is where all the drug peddlers are and all the guys who want to end up with a white woman are found. All the white woman looking for nirvana end up here with some junkie or a peddler or a pimp. This place is like none else. This is where all the rich kids land up to have the white experience. That is where Dev lands up to find himself and he floats. This place has it’s own atmosphere and it is seductive. The shooting style changed with the place.
Dev’s interiors of the room in Delhi and Chanda’s interiors were predesigned. My production designer Sukant Panigrahy(Chak De) and his art director cum actress wife Helen Jones brought in the pink in Chanda’s house. She went and got every property from the mosquito nets to the che guevara ashtrays and mannequins and the various wigs. Similarly the also brought in the graffiti on the wall of Dev’s room. The idea being , a lot of artists and musicians have passed through this room and have left something behind in a way that’s permanent, like art.
Dev’s clothes and the bag and even the underwears were handpicked by Abhay himself. Rest of the looks were designed by Shubhra. For chanda we went on the net, picked a lot of Twiggy photographs and that of Gia Carnegie for reference, because Chanda plays a fantasy girl, she is a different character everyday. Paro we wanted to be as rustic and raw as possible so one could see the transformation when the story needed it. Designing Chunni was special, he stands out. Dubyendu has a beautiful shiny black skin and we wanted to put garishly loud colours on him, primary colours, was the brief given. That is how the look of the characters came together.
It was difficult to shoot on the crowded streets. During the day the approach was very Black Friday, hide the camera and shoot. A nightmare for the sound guys. Rajiv Ravi, my partner in crime, my DOP was game for anything, he loves risky shoots. We went for it. Shooting nights were a nightmare. We couldn’t light up, it attracted crowds in thousands. One day someone floated around a rumuor saying SRK is shooting here, the crowd just refused to go. We couldn’t shoot. We had to take a decision, either go on like that for days and inflate the budget or find a solution or relocate. Relocating was out of the question so Rajiv said lets shoot early mornings for night. And we did just that, Ajay would go individually to every hotel to put on their neons at 4 in the a.m. and we waited for the sky to turn slightly blue and we shot the night scenes. A lot of style came from the twilight players. The way they are, the way they dress up and generally be. We got our wim wenders frames and lots of gangsta look that came with the twilight players. We just let them all be and captured them.
I did not want to show drugs in the film. But the script demanded it, so I had to find a way to do it. That is where Danny Boyle came in handy.
Instead of showing the drugs , we just show Dev going for it and then the camera starts tripping very well aided by Amit Trivedi’s music. Dev.D is two short stories and a novella. A journey, infact three journeys of three characters and how they crisscross each other. It is about the times we live in of fast food, fast cars, fast cash, where love is confused with lust and viceversa. Where one doesn’t know what they want, drifting is the name of the game and people are living from one high to another and everyone is looking for the next fix.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Published on: Jan 02 2009 @ 8:43 pm
A lot of questions came forth about how we shot Dev.d. Well, I didn’t know how to go about it either, like i always do, with every film. It’s the film that always decides the shooting style. Style is always a happenstance. It’s never predecided. Locations, where i am shooting always plays a major role, what i am shooting, the subject, it’s soul decides how i have to go about it. The film was set in various places, various moods, cities and areas. The film begins in Punjab, and i wanted to capture punjab. The question i asked myself is what punjab is all about. It is the richest state in India, reason- farming, and land which is so rich. Most of the people in punjab are farmers and family memebers who are in either UK or other parts of the world. I wanted to capture punjab like it is, still, the farming season, the harvest season, the farms, the jaggery units, the sugar mills, and lots of liquid cash. Big cars, hot wheels and people in punjab talking punjabi, music very rooted , punjabi. Paro is parminder, a rustic punjabi girl, who handles family and farms, household and it’s men with the same elan. She can be like a man when it needs to be and delicate like a woman when it needs to be. That is the reason I cast Mahie Gill. Mahie has been an actress in punjabi films for sometime now. I saw her at a party. I was with Imtiaz ali and we saw a girl dancing like there’s no tomorrow and then we spoke to her she was rustic, you knew from the way she talked that she was earthy. I immediately told her i wanted to meet her and told her she is my Paro whenever and if I get to do this film. That was a year before we actually started. There was a lot of resistance initially against her , but today UTV loves her so much that she is doing, Aagey se Right with shreyas and Kaykay and Paan Singh Tomar opposite Irrfan for UTV and my Gulaal.
The entire Punjab chunk in the movie is the way the place is. Still and picturesque. A lot of people who saw the film, their first reaction when the movie begins is, “this can’t be you,this is so yashraj, mustard fields and all, punjabi songs and wedding and all” etc. Then the zone changes. Story moves from Paro a.k.a parminder to chanda. It moves to delhi, south delhi, CP, shanti path Delhi, the public schools, then to canada and punjab during the harvest season and further to Delhi we know little about. The delhi of the nights, of dariyaganj etc. The style , we decided with which we will shoot her story has to be intimate, close and hand held, just follow her around. See her journey, what makes her what she becomes, and why?
Finally we move to Dev’s story. Dev.D a.k.a devender singh dhillon. Son of a rich industrialist from Punjab, the sugar baron and his wandering, his self destruction. This part of the story i wanted to shoot in various places. My choices were the places where people come from all over the world to find themselves. In india they are Goa, Dharamshala, Malana, Auroville in pondicherry , Leh and Pahadganj in Delhi.
Pahadganj normally being the first stop, on a street popularly known as the Israeli street. It looks like either Mongkok or some back street of Hongkong. A neonlit street infested with foreigners mostly israeli’s. You have the street food from all over the world, from shawarmas to momos to tempuras to shushis to whatchmacallit. That is where all the drug peddlers are and all the guys who want to end up with a white woman are found. All the white woman looking for nirvana end up here with some junkie or a peddler or a pimp. This place is like none else. This is where all the rich kids land up to have the white experience. That is where Dev lands up to find himself and he floats. This place has it’s own atmosphere and it is seductive. The shooting style changed with the place.
Dev’s interiors of the room in Delhi and Chanda’s interiors were predesigned. My production designer Sukant Panigrahy(Chak De) and his art director cum actress wife Helen Jones brought in the pink in Chanda’s house. She went and got every property from the mosquito nets to the che guevara ashtrays and mannequins and the various wigs. Similarly the also brought in the graffiti on the wall of Dev’s room. The idea being , a lot of artists and musicians have passed through this room and have left something behind in a way that’s permanent, like art.
Dev’s clothes and the bag and even the underwears were handpicked by Abhay himself. Rest of the looks were designed by Shubhra. For chanda we went on the net, picked a lot of Twiggy photographs and that of Gia Carnegie for reference, because Chanda plays a fantasy girl, she is a different character everyday. Paro we wanted to be as rustic and raw as possible so one could see the transformation when the story needed it. Designing Chunni was special, he stands out. Dubyendu has a beautiful shiny black skin and we wanted to put garishly loud colours on him, primary colours, was the brief given. That is how the look of the characters came together.
It was difficult to shoot on the crowded streets. During the day the approach was very Black Friday, hide the camera and shoot. A nightmare for the sound guys. Rajiv Ravi, my partner in crime, my DOP was game for anything, he loves risky shoots. We went for it. Shooting nights were a nightmare. We couldn’t light up, it attracted crowds in thousands. One day someone floated around a rumuor saying SRK is shooting here, the crowd just refused to go. We couldn’t shoot. We had to take a decision, either go on like that for days and inflate the budget or find a solution or relocate. Relocating was out of the question so Rajiv said lets shoot early mornings for night. And we did just that, Ajay would go individually to every hotel to put on their neons at 4 in the a.m. and we waited for the sky to turn slightly blue and we shot the night scenes. A lot of style came from the twilight players. The way they are, the way they dress up and generally be. We got our wim wenders frames and lots of gangsta look that came with the twilight players. We just let them all be and captured them.
I did not want to show drugs in the film. But the script demanded it, so I had to find a way to do it. That is where Danny Boyle came in handy.
Instead of showing the drugs , we just show Dev going for it and then the camera starts tripping very well aided by Amit Trivedi’s music. Dev.D is two short stories and a novella. A journey, infact three journeys of three characters and how they crisscross each other. It is about the times we live in of fast food, fast cars, fast cash, where love is confused with lust and viceversa. Where one doesn’t know what they want, drifting is the name of the game and people are living from one high to another and everyone is looking for the next fix.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Did you prepared Pre.Visualization technique;Concept Art before shooting the scenes,
Color treatment and all.
Because some of the scenes in trailer looks fantastic color wise,
And you are keeping that thing through out your website, posters and Dev D logo.
And I just noticed now that the instrumental pieces in the OST are Dev Chanda themes!! I somehow inside my mind kept thinking that they were happier tunes of Dev and Paro’s beginning of love!!
Did you have any trouble with post production with the SI-2K camera? Did you use a regular 35 MM camera for the non-trippy shots? Was it difficult to get the same look and feel from these two different cameras?
If this is too much, how about a detailed post by your technical team? Thanks & Regards.
vikram motwane and me
Talking about the look and style of this film it simply amazing. I remember watching the trailer of this film a month back and I did not know initially that this movie was your take on DevDas and my first impressions were of the movie “Requiem For a Dream”. Later when i googled on this project of urs i was simply awestruck coz i myself never imagined if devdas were to be in this age where would he fit in. Awesome idea I hope it works and I really want it to.
Also had a curiousity to know that if you had seen “Requiem For a Dream” and did it help you in Dev D in any way…….I know the plots are very much different Dev D is a romantic tale and RFAD a movie on self destruction through drug abuse and much more but did it influence the portrayal of drug abuse in Dev D. I know it mayb all hypothetical coz I just thought of it all by seeing the trailer of this film.
No requim has nothing to do with Dev.D, except the body rig shots which i have been trying to figure out ever since i saw Mean streets, first time Harvey Kietel walks in to the bar, that shot stayed with me.. The still camera technique i had used earlier in Paanch title sequence.. it was taken further this time because of the available equipment.
and chanda is played by kalki koechlin.. she is born to french hippy parents who came to india in the sixties. She was born in pondicherry and grew up in india, education in Ooty at hebron.. Tamil is her first language.. she speaks tamil, french , hindi and english.
how do u use colors?? like when do u use blue red etc?? in black friday everything had a reddish orange tinge to it..i can understand…but people generally realte lust or sex scenes with fire..or jiya jale ..then also it is red and orange yellow…but for these scenes as in no smoking and other movies people use blue ..
i simply loved mani ratnam’s way of using color in “bombay” … he uses greentinges of blue when the loving is blossimg and reds and oranges like you by the end of the movie… bu the same person mystified me in “yuva” .. he used blue for siddarth’s role green for surya’s and red for madhavan … red for madhavan is understandable..but green and blue?? blue is it to say..siddarth’s character takes life very simply cooly so blue? then green?? is he trying to get indian flag colors??
or do u use colors literally..like “he is green with envy”..so envy and jealousy is green like the onida day which used to come few years back..but jealousy and family rivalry should go with red i presume…
like “he is all blue today” he is sad so blue ..like in kieslowski’s blue she is lonely and all she is actually ‘blue’ (sad) ..so blue???
i saw 2 tarkovsky’s movies recently solaris and stalker.. stalker he seemed to ahve alternated for inside the zone and outside zone … but the color shots i felt have more to do with the story..for instance the arguments debates about life…and showing how life actually is he used color and for transcedence he used sepia..as if to say transcedence is not clear to us but it is there as a hope…in solaris he did a very good thing i feel using lots a white…white i feel is very christian spiritualty…
and coming to dev d… what is the difference betwen pink and red or any other color used??
and if u can kindly explain colors in “eyes wide shut” …
Best.
the trippy shots (nikon ones i think) seem to be shot at about 10 fps….nice……there seems to be quite a bit of underexposure too though not quite sure…
the body rig seems a lil cliche doesn’t it….every drug movie and its grandmother has started using it for the stoned look…..
i like the scene from Mean Streets when Harvey Kietel is dancing with the strippers, apparently scorsese put HIM on the dolly….
have you seen the king of comedy….what did you think of the visual style…all master-shots. not much fluidity with the camera…do you think you’d do that someday?
Thank You
and like everyone els even im eagerly waiting for DevD to release not because its been talked about lot here on PFC but genuienly i think the traliers looks very interesting and ‘experimental’ too. and as Atul asked you about the use of colors , im very much interested to know about the whole use of them, which i have seen in most of films by some great directors. can the use of color be varied according to the situation. can the “blue’ color be used for something other then sadness?can the stereotype be changed when it comes to the use color.
thank you
I have watched some rushes of your film and i found them loud, upfront and demeaning to the very essence of social value of a human being. May be i m making a premature comment upon your yet-to-be-released film. I m making now , coz i felt like. nothing personal. I wil write one after watching the whole film, which seems interesting.
All i want to ask you is when are you going to make film for children?
for children he made “hanuman returns”
You made me laugh till I cried. Do you seriously believe in those that you have written . I mean the social value and all those shit. Did you mean it????
Anyways I was already a cult follower of ‘No Smoking’ is there exists one that is, and I just saw you were the one who wrote ‘Yuva’. Hats off!
Always wanted to ask the writer of Yuva this question- Had you seen ‘Amores Perros’ before writing ‘Yuva’?
u call urself “mindripper”,u should call urself mindless rotten idiot!!
and emotional atyaachar is already a part of our conversations…..
hmm by the way……u mentioned dharamsala….does it go to Mcleodgunj as well..?
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PFCOne STARTS ON MONDAY…
Just watched d trailer of your Dev D…guess it came out just now here in US..anyways 1st emotion that i felt was of relief!!! that finally after long time you will be able to silence your critiques and this time not by ballyhooing but by his art. I am not a fan of yours frankly telling, but I know for sure that you are a great talent. So wish you luck this time that it clicks because its over due now.
Second thing i felt was that this could well be ‘role of a lifetime’ for Abhay Deol…..if he pulls it off nicely….man!!!he will be up there for sure….I sincerely hope he does.
Third and last thing…..the trailer made me feel somehow that it won’t turn out to be a No Smoking!!!I sincerely wish it doesn’t….coz to me it looked like Trainspotting in a Devdas story….Is it so??? Reading this post of yours….atleast trainspotting helped you in Dev D…so that answers a lot.
Anyways really wish u heartfelt wishes n luck this time man….May you get what you truly deserve.
Amen!!!
Sudhanshu- i saw amores perros one year before i worked on Yuva
Om- yes it was used in NS and here too what you see in the trailer is all.. Any shot is effective when used because there is an impact and goes with the mood
vineet- abhay is fantastic in the film
Atul- Pankaj was the first choice, he turned down the film, he did not agree with the philosophy of the movie.
Skywalker- how one uses colours depends on the individual.. mine i can talk about only after the release.
Sags to me was always leaving las vegas..
1) Where can I watch ‘Paanch’?? Is it available on DVD or Online?? I have been trying to watch it for quite some time now?
2) How can one apply to be an Assistant Director with you?? Is there any way to send you resume?
PS. Check out my 20 min documentary if you have time http://www.veoh.com/videos/v63269337F4pxzCF
If u r reading this…it is my 1st sucessful attempt to post a comment…i really hope i m able to do it, coz i remember around 20th of dec’08 i wrote this complete Mahabharath about me , my admiration for u n the fact u r def. my fav. Indian Filmmaker….to add the emoticons at the end i clicked on “ref smileys”n there it went all wrong…my screen hung n i felt prob wht u wud hv felt wen the stupid censor guys stalled the release of Paanch…..my big article was my first attempt to write about wht i felt about cinema, for which i m so passionate about n here ….. it was lost in oblivion……All this started as i was looking for info about Paanch n thus i came to know about PFC…..On youtube while i was searching for ur videos i saw Smriti’s youtube a/c…. n later on the lady accepted my friend request…. i guess she is someone u know, so i requested her to tell u wht i wanted to say in the article….
Anyway, first n foremost i wud like to tell u that i must hv watched Black friday a good 50-60 times n it is one movie which i can watch anyday, anytime…..few of my fav. scenes r… Imtiaz Ghavathe’s chase n the background score playin…”amitabh’s dialogue in the background ..awesome stuff.Another thing i loved was the way the guy playing Asgar Maukadam, acted…i dont think he had a theatre or a popular hndi cinema background …but he was incredible.
I personally know Rahul Ram quite well, so i disscussed with the Indian Ocean guys hw they came up with the music for the film etc….
Anurag i really wanna thank u for recommending 13 Tzametti…it blew my mind too….!!!Lookin fwd for Dev.D.After seeing the trailer, it looks to me as if a movie on my life is being made…..n if this movie is actually about outcasts as u say…i think im rgt that its my story….only diff is that i m not Devender Singh Dhillon but Kr. Bhuvan Vikram Pratap Singh Chauhan n i m not a son of a punjabi landlord but an Army Officer’s son frm Rajasthan.Hope Abhay does justice to my character..:)
Anyway i dont think this will b published as rather than a comment this turned out to b like a private letter for Anurag…. Pls PFC guys , i sincerely request u to just fwd it to Anurag.
Sorry for taking so much time.
Cheers n Hopin this yr gives better films to our Cinema n better times to our country…
Regards,
Freeman Dyson
With durgs and ciggeretted in Dev.D i guess there is definitely some scope for Mr Ramadoss to do the publicity!!!
And yes, I always wonder,how does a Dircctor visualizes the colour scheme for a movie!!
@Ashish : Bring it ON!!!
but anyways what rating has it got?
just watched full ea song on 9x
good video
paro dance very good
and there was a girl who stop abhay when he was going towards paro but he fall who was she
Vishesh- that was the pardesi song where we used the nikon
harsh, if you remember devdas , that’s the sister of the man Paro gets married to.. The actress that plays the role is Parakh Madan
Debarun- The film is yet to go for censors and we are looking at an A certificate.
Azad and Ahmad Raza : It’s good you follow AK but my friend while following don’t forget your individuality cause at the end what matters is you.
I have been following your films since 1998. I have seen all of your films except Paanch. Pls. Get it released or tell me where can i watch it?????
am totally triping on dev d trailors and music. can’t stop talking about it to people. every goddamn smoke break, i’m loading folks with new info on the movie
are paanch and gulaal also releasing this year?
Anyways, it gives the film a pretty unique attitude. The promos are exciting.
Count me in for the First Day First Show.
Lots of luck.
That was a good memory recall !!!
GK
But surely one classic timeless tale for sure to experiment with by the creative minds.
“Israeli street” added to knowledge
Cheers!
~fe~
Hi, Anurag. Today, there are only a few film-makers who have got a unique, creative and intellectual style of filmmaking, you and Dibakar Banerjee being the recognized ones. But at the same time, there are some unrecognized ones as well. I want to talk about Tigmanshu Dhulia. He has made Haasil. I personally liked the movie very very much. I have seen the movie 5-10 times, just like I have seen No Smoking and Oye Lucky! a lot of times. I wanted to know your reviews of the movie in case you’ve seen it. If not, I’d strongly recommend this movie to you.
I might b a litle late to post a comment ovr here but i jst came across this blog… by the way i jst cant wait to c Dev D but Anurag dont u think u’ve become one of the major art house filmmakers of bollywood, so that u should try n make sme subjects whch have never been touched before like No smokin and black friday… those were 2 fantastic movies n no smokin was in true sence out of the box type may b a tribute to david lynch… i loved the way it was shot n also saw that Snorri cam technique used well n which i can c in Dev D’s promos… i’m looking forward ro watchin dev D but i hope that u make smethin really different n twisted next time…
thank you
So when r u planning to release Dev.D…….waiting with baited breath….
Thanks to PFC guys i never thought my comment will b published…
Thanks,
Freeman Dyson
I am huge fan of all the people, including you who make some realistic movies, thanks to you, indian cinema is finally arriving.
How can I become a part of your crew? Seriously, there must be a way , tell me , I will work on that.
how many days of shooting for dev.d
GK
A few suggestions [ if u dont mind ]
Teasers of E.A , Duniya , Nayan Tarse are all over MTV n other channels . Dev D may b positioned as a Drug\Alcohol movi.This may backfire ..Its high time that u released full fledged videos of Dhol yaara Dhol or Paayaliya..Dev D is supposed to b romantic also .
Secondly , the music has been released , but its not comin on Radio stations ..Let it b on Radio
..The tracks will be a Rage by the time Dev D releases .
Let A.T. give a few jam sessions..
Let the music b the USP..its awesome..Just hit it in the right way..
PS - Just a thought AK ,All the best for Dev D ..
Regards
i don’t think you know this, but the radio guys are playing emotional attyachar..atleast it is playing in delhi.
Yaar,its not happening in Mumbai…if they are playing ,then not much of it …
The first time when i saw the poster of DD (Dev-D) where two faces are getting into each other and both are transparent, I was watching it for almost 20 minutes, just to figure out what exatly are you trying to say.. well I am a great fan of ur films and writings of few films.
I would like to know what tat poster exactly speaks ?? What is a significance of using the song such as emosional atyaachar ?? Is it a part of the film or it is jst for promotion whatevr it mite b bt the song is jst amazing…. and simply creative … before ths I cud nvr imagin a rock band with this song …
Why Abhay deol for Dev ?? his looks influence you ?? or you had any other choice for that role ? When I saw the trailor it seems like few shots are inspired by requim for a dream , and as I read in your blog u said its diffrent stories happng at diffrent places and eventually it crosses each others path and thats how their life intersects.. so I wud like to know is it something inspired from mores perros ??
I am simply impressed by the looks of the film… I am happy that there r few directors in India that can give an international look to our films and we can atlist say that this is Indian Cinema and not a bollywood film.
Thanks a lot Sir for your contribution to our Cinema.
The first time when I saw the looks of the film, I simply said in my mind this is the kind of film I would make one day…
Best of luk with this film.. and I am pretty sure this will definetly work I am doing my best to promote your film.. cos I m a vry great fan of ur Cinema…
Tcr God bless u
Sachin Vinod Modi
I am just blown over the music… It is AWESOME to the core…
more than u , dev d shd work for abhay deol
God bless you anurag
can feel all the pain uve gone thru
underground cinema rocks!
Dz!
waiting for the release!
My friends and I have been losing it over the Dev D trailor. These days,any talk about movies invariably veers down to how badly we want watch this film.
It should be interesting to see Devdas in the present scenario of fledgeling notions of identity and love. In a generic sense, the young generation(and I confess I belong to this generation, though there are days when I have solid reasons to believe I’m almost a fossil in front of some of them) may be truculent in their defence of knowing their minds and being in touch with the times. But there is this deep-seated lack of belief somewhere, a certain vulnerability among them, which is quite a sight.A very appealing one at that.
The cinematography, from the little I’ve seen, throws you, momentarily, into a moody world that you want to know more about.
And that song- Emotional Athyachar- that’s just something special!
What was the need to say that chandramukhi’s char relates to the DPS scandal when earlier you guys had denied it..The problem is not in the character of chandramukhi the way it is in DEV D..
The problem is in the statement that its inspired by DPS victim..
One woman’s pain is being utilized to promote your movie..Just coz you know that the girl is not going to come out in open and file a case against you..
Shame..
I have never waited for a movie as much as for Dev.D.Im a big fan of requiem for a dream and i cant tell u how delighted i was to see that body rigged shot in an Indian movie. I just hope there is a lot of substance with so much style.
having understood the true essence of human nature
do you also plan to make a horror movie in the near future?(i mean a real bhootia movie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdzSgUn9tC0&feature=related
First of al i want to congratulate u for DEV D…bcause i knw this film will do miracles….
I just wanna ask u how much u r dependent on ur DOP mr. rajiv ravi on sets in terms of technicality…since one of my friend who is assisting u in NO SMOKING told me that u r really amazing in technical deapartment also….U exactly knw which lens focal length will giv u what effect….
plez…plez..plez…reading your posts is like getting an outer sketch of cinema from a personal point of view and not textual which is very boring and less intriguing. i wanted to ask you more about cinema from your point of view, but i don’t want to harbor this space with questions that matter to me..i know I’m being selfish..but if it’s my thing, it’d rather be that way…can i just mail you, but i’m not too sure if u check them and don’t worry,those mails will have no senti shit…lol
666.. soon
In Vasan’s Dev D diary, Vasan mention that you take ‘Single Shots’ successfully,
So I want to know that, do you prepare storyboards for that matter.
If yes, how do you go about it,
because you can’t do story board for entire Movie; right?
And please show us some boards if you have any, (apart from Animated film, because there is no such a thing like Single shots))
Thanks
It’s been a week since I have surfed through PFC so keenly following every comment and every blog on Dev.D & Oye lucky, lucky oye. Apart from the comments of other’s , I get to see Anurag replying personally to everyone & trust me that makes you (AK) more adorable and approachable!
Well, I heard, watched (trailers) & read a lot about Dev.D (All posts) and thought of restraining myself from commenting till I saw the movie but just couldn’t resist doing so….
I was travelling back from work tonight and there were these two guys sitting with me in the office cab -In house music critic ( or the guy who covers the music beat) the other guy self acclaimed sports correspondent meet each other and start discussing music. Sports guy tells the music guy that ‘Jugni’ from OLLO is awesome & the music guy started off with his review, but it was good gyan…after this, the conversation prolonged on music but this time it was about how Guns n roses are not doing well and how Bryan adams, Bon Jovi go unoticeable despite efforts…..blah blah blah and then back to Bollywood music….
In the span of 5 mins the sports guy says I loved the Songs from ‘Paanch’, and also that Bande from ‘Black Friday’ and this time the so called music guy (critic?) was all in favour (I say so coz it seemed he was least interested in bollywood music ) and ended saying even the movies were so good.
By this time everything clicked in my mind was about Dev.D ( and AK as well) & thought of asking him about Dev.D’s Music but couldn’t.
The sports guy then ended saying these days these offbeat movies are making better movies with not just good stories but good music as well…
This week the music guy has reviewed Slumdog millionaire or so but I will surely ask him about Dev.D esp. Emossanal attyachar….:-)
I guess am done with my long comment.
Thanks!
And Anurag where is the Dev.D himself? (lost in the post modern complexities!!! Lolz jst joking! )Jst saw his one post on OLLO. Would be pleased to read experience (like ur AD wrote ‘My Dev.D Diary’)
Thanx
And Anurag where is the Dev.D himself? (lost in the post modern complexities!!! Lolz jst joking! )Jst saw his one post on OLLO. Would be pleased to read his experiences (like ur AD wrote ‘My Dev.D Diary’)
Thanx
Iam not judging anyone.. There was an article in bombay times where in your producer said that yea chandramukhi’s character is based on the DPS girl.. This statement has nothing to do with the movie .. .. movie mai chahe jo dikhaya ho..Tell me would we say this if we see a potential threat of getting sued by the person..or yes you can say that media misquoted him.. if yes than i apologize.
Like he thinks it is not technically possible or will not help in adding any elements to the film, visually or aesthetically…
Bcause as far as i knw MR. Rajiv Ravi through ur blogs or by his magnificent work, i think he is a very daring and all time ready to experiment with his shots….
Somehow i feel that , Dev d isnt being properly promoted..not heavily …mayb budget constraints ..
2009 will b grt for u n for us …Dev d n gulaal, pls smthing abt Paanch..
Best wishes
I depend on him for execution and he always does something extra to enhance it..
Alone.. the film uses a mms scandal but does not exploit it.. we can’t lie about it not being there.. but it is a scandal.. not necessary based on some victims life..
One that I instantly thought of, in the category of films where the writer/director himself is, most probably not aware of using it is “Leaving Las Vegas”… at least the second part of the story about finding solace in a prostitute’s arms and instead leaving both of them destroyed in their own ways.
Can u tell me how u used SI-2k camera and nikon DS 3 for the trippy scenes…do u have to put body rigs on abhay or there is sum other way to get that effect….